Pigeons of the sea? Sharks use magnetic compass for navigation
Researchers nail evidence that some shark species use magnetic forces as a natural GPS
An overhead shot of bonnetheads in the holding tank. Credit: Bryan Keller
Might be time to re-think your strategy for avoiding sharks: turns out the marine predators use the Earth’s magnetic field to navigate, according to new research from the US.
The study has produced the first firm evidence that bonnethead sharks – a small type of hammerhead found in American waters – like birds and turtles, use magnetic fields to figure out where they are and where to go.
Sharks Use Earth s Magnetic Fields To Navigate forbes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from forbes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
More than one-third of all coral reefs in Guam were killed from 2013 to 2017 over the course of multiple bleaching events, previous UOG research led by Laurie J. Raymundo found. Coral bleaching occurs when corals are stressed by environmental changes and expel the essential symbiotic algae that live in their tissues, causing them to turn white and often die.
This latest study examined the resilience of staghorn corals, Acropora cf. pulchra, in heightened seawater temperatures. This species of coral is one of Guam’s dominant reef builders, and its habitats experience temperatures up to 97 degrees Fahrenheit during the hottest months of the year, leaving it vulnerable to bleaching episodes and population decline.
May 06, 2021 06:50 PM EDT
Scientists have believed for a long time that these animals depend on magnetic sensing to travel across oceans. At last, someone puzzled out how to prove it. Great white sharks travel more than 12,000 miles yearly from South Africa to Australia, charting a closely ideal straight line across the ocean. And each year, they turn around and migrate back.
(Photo : Ben Phillips)
Earth s Magnetic Field
There are no street signposts to lead them and, for most of the journey, no fixed landmarks by which they can set their route. There is usually a change in currents and water temperatures. The sunsets at night, the stars vanish during the day. But the sharks still carry on with their movement.
published : 7 May 2021 at 07:45
3 Research on bonnethead sharks has revealed that sharks can glean their position and orientation using the magnetic field generated deep within our planet.
WASHINGTON: Forget Google Maps sharks can read the Earth s magnetic field like a GPS navigator to find their way, a study in Current Biology showed Thursday.
Lead author Bryan Keller told AFP the paper vindicates a decades-old theory about how the aquatic predators are able to migrate vast distances, swim in arrow-straight lines, and return to their precise point of origin.
Sharks are also known to have a fine-tuned electrosensing ability that helps them detect prey.